2021 will be the 50th anniversary of Hornsey Historical Society. One way in which we intend celebrating is by republishing a selection of articles from the Hornsey Historical Society Newsletter on the website. We hope you enjoy them.
The Old Dairy is located at the bottom of Crouch Hill (Haringey) at its junction with Hanley Road (Islington). These fine buildings are now a café, restaurant and public house. Its name and the sgraffito panels on the Crouch Hill side indicate that it was connected with the dairy industry. What is the building’s history?
Imagine it is 1929 and you are on a train steaming north out of Kings Cross. There is a man in his mid-30s sitting opposite you – he is Barnes Wallace, later to be knighted and famed for his bouncing bombs. As you pass through Hornsey station he looks out of the window and gazes at the smaller of the two gasholders at Hornsey Gasworks – he smiles at its skeletal structure of repeating triangular shapes.
Planning permission is now being sought by the developers of an ambitious scheme, known as the Haringey Heartlands Masterplan, to regenerate and develop the area of Wood Green between Mayes Road and the Great Northern Eastern Railway (GNER).
When the building served milk not alcohol
Substantial building development has changed the appearance of the top of Muswell Hill. The Green Man, probably a public house from the mid-16th century, has become Pinnacle, luxury town houses and apartments. Opposite, 77 Muswell is another residential development, once the offices of brewers Taylor Walker (1980), originally the site of the Ritz Cinema (1936), then the ABC Cinema (1962–1978). Further up is The Mossy Well pub with a large bottle hanging outside. What past has this building had?
The Parish of Holy Trinity was the fifth to be carved out of the original Anglican parish of St Mary, Hornsey, as the population grew. The first was St Michael, Highgate in 1832 and Holy Trinity was established in 1878 on the corner of Granville and Stapleton Hall Roads.
Eleven HHS members and friends took part in an enjoyable walk round Stroud Green on October 30th, starting at Finsbury Park Station. The excellent weather gave us some splendid views from the vantage points of Finsbury Park and Mount View Road and the tour was enlivened by the reminiscences of several local members.
Situated in Herbert Road N11, Shaftesbury Hall was registered in 1885 and became an Infants School in the early 1900s. It was still used by the Baptists in the late 1930s but closed in 1954. It is owned by the Samaritans and Hornsey Housing Trust who want to sell it and redevelop the site and put up a block of three one-bed flats.
This time, we follow a lively discussion from past HHS Newsletters led by John Hinshelwood about the origins of the names of the streets on the Harringay Ladder. It’s never too late to join an historical discussion so if you have any further information please add a Comment at the end of this article.
With visits to all public venues, including Alexandra Palace, postponed for the foreseeable future as a result of the current coronavirus pandemic, we can read about an HHS outing to ‘The People’s Palace’ which provides an intriguing and evocative glimpse into the past.
Cromwell House on Highgate Hill is the only Grade 1 listed building in the former Borough of Hornsey. Never connected with Oliver Cromwell, the house owes its status mainly to its magnificent grand staircase dating from 1638 which is decorated with carved newel posts of military figures. Currently the house is occupied by the High Commission of Ghana. Its history has been a chequered one and was covered in our newsletter in the 1980s by Peter Barber.